Football

Former Cowboys Robert Herron and Marqueston Huff Receiving Praise as They Prepare for Senior Bowl SaturdayHerron and Huff to Play on North Team in 2014 Reese's Senior Bowl

Robert Herron

Jan. 23, 2014

LARAMIE, Wyo. -
As the 2014 Reese's Senior Bowl approaches this Saturday, former Wyoming Cowboys Robert Herron and Marqueston Huff are both receiving praise for their performances in practices leading up to the game. Herron and Huff will both play for the North Team in this year's Senior Bowl. The game will kick off Saturday, Jan. 25, 2014, at 2 p.m., Mountain Time, from Mobile, Ala. The game will be televised by the NFL Network.

On CBSSports.com on Wednesday, Rob Rang, who writes for CBSSports.com and The Sports Xchange, led off his story entitled "2014 Senior Bowl: Under-the-radar defenders highlight North practice" with praise for Huff.

Huff was also recognized on Twitter on Tuesday of this week when Gil Brandt, Former Vice President of Player Personnel for the Dallas Cowboys (1960-'89) and NFL.com Senior Analyst, tweeted, "My @SeniorBowl scout called and raved about player I've been talking about for some time. Keep eye on Wyoming CB Marqueston Huff."

On Tuesday of this week, Herron garnered attention on FOXSports.com. FOXSports writer Coy Wire highlighted Herron as one of the three "Senior Bowl: Day 1 standouts whose names you'll soon know." Continue this story here.

CBSSports.com featured a story by NFL DraftScout.com Senior Analyst Dane Brugler that identified Herron as a potential Top 100 pick in the draft. The link to that story is here.

Herron was named to the 2013 Biletnikoff Award Watch List, which honors the outstanding receiver in college football each season. He caught 72 passes for 937 yards and nine touchdowns his senior season. All three of those totals were career highs. The Los Angeles, Calif., native fell just 63 yards shy of the 1,000-yard mark for his senior season. Herron completed his University of Wyoming career ranked No. 4 in school history in career TD receptions (20), ranked ninth in career receiving yards (2,030) and ranked 10th in school history in career receptions (152).

Against Hawai'i, Herron had 11 receptions for 141 yards and caught four-touchdown passes. His four touchdown catches tied him for the most TD receptions in the nation for a single game this season. It also tied the Wyoming and Mountain West records for most TD receptions in a single game.

Against San Jose State, Herron caught a 93-yard TD reception, which was the longest in Wyoming school history, was the longest in the Mountain West this season and ranked No. 3 in MW history. Herron tied for No. 6 in the Mountain West and No. 30 in the NCAA in receiving TDs, with nine total TD catches his senior year. He also ranked No. 10 in the Mountain West and No. 33 in NCAA in receptions (6.00 per game), and was No. 12 in the MW and No. 58 in the NCAA in receiving yards (78.1 yards per game). He had three 100-yard games to his credit his senior season (154 at San Jose State, 141 vs. Hawai'i and 123 vs. Idaho) and four other games of 85 or more yards receiving (94 at Air Force, 94 at Texas State, 91 at Nebraska and 86 at Boise State). He started 27 of 42 career games, including the final 18 consecutive. Herron earned Honorable Mention All-Mountain West Conference honors both his junior and senior seasons.

Huff earned Second Team All-Mountain West Conference honors his senior season in voting by conference head coaches and media. He ranked No. 3 in the Mountain West and No. 9 in the nation in tackles in 2013, averaging 10.6 per game. Huff averaged 6.2 solo tackles per game to rank No. 2 in the conference and No. 9 in the NCAA in that category. The other category he ranked nationally in as a senior was fumble recoveries. Huff recovered two fumbles on the season to tie for No. 4 in the MW and No. 34 in the country.

The native of Texarkana, Texas, led all Mountain West defensive backs in tackles in the 2013 season. He intercepted two passes in 2013 and ended his Wyoming career with six, tying him for 11th in school history in interceptions. Huff's 127 tackles in 2013 also tied him for the 11th best single-season total in school history. In his final regular-season game as a Cowboy, Huff was credited with 20 tackles at Utah State, tying him for the third best single-game performance in Cowboy history. He started 35 of 49 career games at Wyoming.

The Senior Bowl has been played every year since 1950, and annually features some of the top draft picks in each year's NFL Draft. The Senior Bowl is unique in that it features coaching staffs from two NFL teams. The Atlanta Falcon coaching staff will coach the North Team in the 2014 Reese's Senior Bowl, while the South Team will be coached by the staff of the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Recent Senior Bowl participants who went on to success in the NFL include: Clay Matthews of the Green Bay Packers, Von Miller of the Denver Broncos, Patrick Willis of the San Francisco 49ers and Russell Wilson of the Seattle Seahawks.

Huff and Herron will be the 24th and 25th Wyoming Cowboys to participate in the Senior Bowl and the first since place-kicker Deric Yaussi in 2006. Eddie "Boom Boom" Talboom was Wyoming's first former player to play in the Senior Bowl back in 1951. Other great Cowboys to play in the Senior Bowl included: Jerry Hill (RB, 1961); Jim Kiick (RB, 1968); Aaron Kyle (DB, 1976); Jay Novacek (TE, 1985); and Ryan Yarborough (WR, 1994).